Source: Tribune242.comBy Sancheska BrownBahamian fishermen have waged war on Dominican poachers fishing in Bahamian waters ever since one of their own was shot in the neck by the trespassers. Speaking with The Tribune, Adrian La-roda, president of the Bahamas Commercial Fishers Alliance, said Bahamian fishermen are so “fed up” with Dominican poachers that if the Defence Force had not caught 50 of the illegals this weekend, “there would have been an altercation”. “The Fishers Alliance has been for a long time calling for the RBDF to step up patrols in the southern Bahamas, but we feel like we are being ignored. While we are encouraged by this latest arrest, they need to go further and arrest other vessels. Trust me it is best that the RBDF caught those guys, Bahamian fishermen are fed up. One of the fishermen was just shot by Dominican poachers, these men are now looking for revenge and some type of action will happen. They are not taking it anymore. This was the last straw. The fishermen have been pushed over the edge, we have been asking for help for so long and haven’t gotten any. Something serious is going to happen, very soon.” Local fisherman, Darron Sweeting, said he was shot in neck by Dominican poachers last month when he and his crew tried to “run them” out of Bahamian waters. “On November 27, I was out fishing with a crew of six, when we saw four Dominican vessels east of Cay Lobos. We ran them off the bank and two of the boats opened fire on us. I got a flesh wound in the neck from one of the pellets, but we kept chasing them until we got close to Cuba so we turned around and came home.” “We are sick of them coming here. We spotted 150 of their skiffs fishing in the water, in addition to bigger boats that are between 60 - 100 feet. Now we are taking matters into our own hands. Fishing is how we live. It is how we feed our children and our families and we let these men come over here illegally and kill our fishing grounds. In about three years there will be nothing for us to fish. They aren’t scared anymore, years ago they didn’t have weapons, but now they are armed. But we are not backing down if the RBDF won’t help us, we will help ourselves.” The Alliance’s comments come after 33 Dominicans, suspected of poaching, evaded capture by the Royal Bahamas Defence Force over the weekend when they were spotted fishing illegally in waters near Cay Lobos. More....

Source: Tribune242.comBy Sancheska BrownThirty-three Dominicans, suspected of poaching, evaded capture by the Royal Bahamas Defence Force over the weekend after they were spotted fishing illegally in waters near Cay Lobos.According to Defence Force officials, the poachers were a part of a group of 50 who have been fishing illegally in Bahamian waters since last month. Captain Tellis Bethel, Deputy Commander of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, said RBDF officers arrested 17 Dominicans on a 70-foot fishing vessel, but the 33 poachers who were on smaller skiffs, headed for the Cuban boarder to avoid capture. “They headed south toward Cuba in the old Bahama Channel, but we have gotten reports from the Cuban Boarder Guard that they had apprehended 33 persons. Now it will be an issue for Foreign Affairs in terms of what will take place now, including advice from the Attorney Generals Office,” he said. “But getting the other poachers and their boat here to the capital took us a day’s journey. We had to bring it from the area of Cay Lobos, some 100 miles south of New Providence and we had shallow waters so we had to wait for them to rise to allow the vessel to enter our harbour. There was a large amount of fisheries resources on board so we have Immigration as well as Fisheries officials here to process the Dominican fisherman. The next course of action will be for them to be transported to the Detention Centre to be processed by Immigration authorities and Fisheries authorities. The Fisheries authorities will be pressing charges if they find them culpable of violation of our fisheries laws.” Captain Bethel said it was too early to say how much the confiscated fish and crawfish were worth, but, he said, it was a “significant find.” This latest arrest of poachers is the first for the RBDF since 2011. Captain Bethel said they will continue to maintain a great presence in that area to discourage any more poachers. He also discouraged Bahamian fishermen from approaching the poachers – as they tend to be violent. “There have been some complaints by Dominican fishermen against Bahamian fishermen. We ourselves have had some encounters to some extent, but we strongly advise local fishermen not to engage in any conflict at sea with them and to allow authorities to address the issue for their own safety and well being.” He said the RBDF will continue to keep a “watchful eye” for poachers as well as illegal immigration, drug trafficking as well as continue their search and rescue efforts. More....

Source: Animalpeoplenews.orgBy seann lenihannAn appeal to an administrative law court filed by the zoo management foundation Fundazoo is the last hope the 97-year-old Simón Bolívar Zoo in San José and the Santa Ana conservation center have to remain open past 2014. A year after banning sport hunting, Costa Rica is poised to becoming the first nation in the western hemisphere to abolish zoos. But while the sport hunting ban was the first Costa Rican legislation passed by voter initiative, the end of zookeeping will result from the decision of environment minister René Castro to simply not renew the Fundazoo operating permits.“With this move,” Castro said, “we are sending a message that the state wishes to show biodiversity in its natural state, under a modern and holistic integration of space, society and natural resources.” Castro told the newspaper La Nación that his perspective on zoos was influenced by the escape of his grandmother’s pet parrot. “That made a big impression on me because I thought we had taken good care of her. We fed her with food and affection – all the things that we as humans thought she liked,” Castro remembered. “Yet when she had the chance, she left.” “The animal residents of the zoos––300 individuals from 60 species in the case of the Simón Bolívar zoo––will be released into the wild or found new homes in private shelters. The land will be used for botanical gardens,” reported Jonathan Watts of The Guardian.“The Simón Bolívar Zoo attracts more than 130,000 visitors a year, runs educational programs, and has its own policy of releasing animals back into the wild whenever possible,” Watts wrote. The zoo employs about 35 people to look after a collection including mostly native species: parrots, crocodiles, ocelots, snakes, and spider monkeys. The zoo also has an African lion imported from Cuba. “We are more a rescue centre than a zoo. We have never bought or collected animals,” spokesperson Eduardo Bolanos told Watts. “The state of Costa Rica’s public zoos has been a point of contention among environmental groups for years,” recalled International Business Times correspondent Mark Johanson. “The Association for the Preservation of Wild Flora and Fauna filed a lawsuit against the zoos in 2006 for poor conditions and questionable sanitation, leading the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court to order immediate improvements. The Environment Ministry has tried unsuccessfully since 2003 to terminate its contract with Fundazoos. Fundazoo, however, argues that its contract to run the zoos has already been renewed through 2024.” Movement away from keeping wildlife in captivity also gained momentum in Uruguay, with the August 2013 decision of the Montevideo municipal zoo to send two tigers to a sanctuary in the United States. More....

Criminal prevention efforts carried out by the Brigadas Montadas de Vigilancia in rural areas of Camagüey province -where these brigades have been set up- have resulted in a remarkable reduction of cattle rustling and killing.

According to Germán Guerra Basulto, chief of the farming sector protection service, such criminal acts have decreased, thanks to these surveillance squads, founded with the support of the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP), an opinion that is shared by residents in Minas and Najasas, where these brigades were created.

Strengthening order, safeguarding lawfulness and preventing crime have been the goals of these brigades, made up by people chosen in the very farms where they work, whether State-run or cooperative farms. These groups rely on the counseling and guidance of officers of the National Revolutionary Police (PNR), he added.

In an attempt to halt acts like cattle rustling and killing, theft, illegal logging and other felonies a total of 65 brigades have been established in rural People's Councils within Camagüey province.

First lieutenant Aliosky Quiala Hernández who works directly with one of these squads affirmed that “they have ensured the permanent surveillance of the area on which they work, and are undoubtedly another force which cooperates with the Ministry of the Interior. (AIN/Radio Cadena Agramonte).

Cuba will develop legislation and control measures for the capture and trade of hammerhead sharks and manta rays, which were included in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

The decision to include both specimens in the appendices of CITES, to protect them, shall come into force in 2014, after being adopted at the 16th Conference of the parties of the organization, held last March in Bangkok, capital of the Kingdom of Thailand, in Southeast Asia.

Cuba, as a State Party of that Convention and distribution area of the aforementioned species must expand its regulations and provision for their management to allow a sustainable use, M Sc. José Alberto Alvarez Lemus said.

Alvarez Lemus, expert of the Cuban Environmental Inspection and Control Center, said the nation has no specific legislation or fishery management plans in this regard.

However, he clarified that Resolution 160 of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment preserves whale and white sharks, in addition to the sawfish, which are among the species of particular significance.

He felt that that list has to be increased now to the new cartilaginous fishes recognized in the Bangkok meeting, attended by about three thousand delegates from 170 states and NGOs.(ACN)

Namibia will airlift 10 rhinoceros and five elephants to Cuba in September, concluding a massive translocation project of 135 animals taken from its national parks, the environment ministry said Wednesday.

The 15 animals will be captured from the Etosha National Park in northern Namibia—one of the country's major tourist attractions—plus a nearby smaller game reserve, the Waterberg Plateau, environment and tourism deputy-minister Pohamba Shifeta told AFP. The ambitious project, dubbed Noah's Ark II, has populated Cuba's 342-hectare (845-acre) National Zoo outside Havana. A total of 120 animals of 23 species—including endangered black and white rhinos, cheetahs, leopards and lions—were already transported to the Caribbean island nation in November.Animal rights groups have protested the capture of wild animals. But Shifeta defended the translocation as Namibia's "token of appreciation" to Cuba for its support. Cuba gave the southern African country political and military backing during its struggle for independence from South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s. "Cuban people were not complaining when their government was supporting us," Shifeta told AFP. More....